1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a magnetic reproduce head, and in particular to a dual magnetoresistive reproduce head.
2. Description Relative to the Prior Art
As magnetic recording technology continues to push areal recording density limits, the magnetoresistive (MR) reproduce head appears to be the technology of choice. For adequate cross-track resolution with decreasing reproduce track width in the MR head, it is desirable that the MR element height be less than the track width. For current biased heads (where the sense current simultaneously acts as bias source), such as the dual magnetoresistive head (DMR) or MR heads (shielded or unshielded) employing soft-adjacent layer biasing, the mean bias magnetization level achievable for a given maximum permissible current density depends on the head geometry. For the DMR in particular, the mean bias magnetization level varies quadratically with the MR element height in the small MR element height limit, and at the small (&lt;1 .mu.m ) element heights desirable for optimal cross-track resolution in ultra high density recording systems, optimal biasing of the MR element(s) may not be feasible at realistic current densities. The result of running the MR head at below optimal bias results in loss of reproduce signal level and increased non-linear distortion.